They may not be the most successful club of all time in the Energia All-Ireland League, but Clontarf are assuredly the most resilient. Few could begrudge the red and blue Dublin northsiders their fourth AIL title after Sunday’s fluctuating 22-21 win over Cork Constitution given it was their 12th final overall.
They’ve had more than their fair share of disappointments, not least the 2008-09 “loss” to Shannon, who were awarded the victory after extra-time by dint of scoring the first try in a 19-19 draw in Thomond Park. That such a dodgy rule decided that one was beyond cruel.
That was also the first season Clontarf’s former player Andy Wood coached the team. Save for a two-year interregnum when Bernard Jackman was the head coach, and incorporating the abandoned 2019-20 season while discounting the cancelled campaign of 2020-21, Wood has been there ever since.
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Hence, this season was his 14th season at the helm, which means few are better qualified to explain why ‘Tarf just keep on coming back.
“It’s down to a number of things; a lot of hard work and lads on the pitch and club members just enjoy putting their shoulders to the wheel and looking forward to days like [Sunday].
“That’s the ultimate reward and also watching guys like Hugh, putting in performances like he did and then go on to perform at a higher level and get the success he deserves as well,” said Wood in relation to 21-year-old centre and man of the match Hugh Cooney.
“So it’s a number of things but the motivation is living off the adrenaline we get from days like [Sunday], I guess.”
Asked where he’d rank the latest title among those of 2014, 2016 and 2022, Wood said: “It’s pretty sweet at the moment but they’re all pretty special, to be fair. At the moment this one ranks pretty high.”
Cooney’s performance helped varnish Clontarf’s renowned power game up front, but their togetherness and toughness were again obvious.
“I think a bit of grit,” said Wood when asked about the key ingredient in Sunday’s success. “It sort of sums up our year in terms of our matches and finishes. We built a heck of a lot of belief from one-score games that we’ve come out the right side of.
“And I guess in that little edge where there’s a hell of a lot of jeopardy, it builds its own energy and I think that stood to us.”
Given the age profile of Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Ireland needs to start increasing its depth in midfield and although still inexperienced and in the Leinster academy, Cooney looks like a good bet to make his Test debut this summer against Georgia or Portugal.
Cooney said the memory of losing to Terenure in the final two seasons previously had been a big source of motivation and described playing in the AIL for Clontarf, and days such as last Sunday, as “invaluable” in his growth as a player.
Whereas Cooney’s future appearances in the blue and red are likely to be few, if any, Dylan Donnellan will remain a key cog. After scoring his 15th try of the season from Cooney’s offload in Sunday’s final, th Galway-born hooker and captain spoke of the club’s special sense of parish and community,
“I’m not from Clontarf but from the second I walked through the door, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, or who you are, as long they know that you’re going to give everything you are one of them.
“They’ll back you to the hilt, they’ll do whatever they can for you. They’ll help you off the pitch in terms of if you need a job, if you need a dig out somewhere, if you’re struggling in your personal life, any kind of stuff, there are people there who will do whatever it takes to make sure you are looked after as a person.
“You don’t get that in every club. I’ve been in other clubs and you don’t get that everywhere, so this place is special.
“You look at the crowd today, that speaks volumes about the club. There was a huge cohort of under-20s there who were really boisterous, which adds to the atmosphere but there’s guys in their 80s and 90s who were being brought in in wheelchairs, mothers and fathers with kids three, four and five, babies. It’s a club for everyone.
“Everyone is welcome, everyone is cherished, it’s a community and at the core of it is the rugby and the teams, I don’t know what more to say about the place.”
Donnellan assured us that the celebrations weren’t going to end on a Sunday night in Castle Avenue.
“These don’t come around often and the last time we won you go out and you enjoy yourself for a couple of days but you look back on and it those are the best days. Those are the memories that are really built, what it means to the club, what it means to the lads to just be together.
“We went four or five days on the tear the last time and there was 15, 16 lads there on day four, which is pretty impressive but that again speaks to the closeness of the group. We’ll be doing the same this year and you can guarantee there will be more than 15 on day four this time around.”
Having been on the losing side “too often to mention”, Wood expressed empathy for Cork Con, whose defence coach Brian Scott said: “Last year we felt the ecstasy of winning and you feel agony today but that’s rugby, that’s sport and we’ll try to regroup. We’ll take a rest and get back together in June, plan our year and go again.”
Shannon were the last side to retain the title when completing a three-in-a-row in 2006, and this was the third year running that the reigning champions lost the final.
“It’s quite evident it’s a hard thing to do back-to-back but I don’t think it was from lack of trying,” said Scott. “It was a tight game and our lads gave it everything and we fought to the bitter end. In a way you feel like we ran out of time but history doesn’t lie, I suppose, and it’s showing us that it is hard to go back-to-back.”
That challenge awaits Clontarf next, but it can wait too.
AIL Ups and Downs
Division 1A
Champions: Clontarf.
Runners-up: Cork Constitution.
Relegated: Garryowen and City of Armagh.
Division 1B
Champions: Old Belvedere.
Also promoted: Nenagh Ormond.
Relegated: Shannon.
Division 2A
Champions: Instonians.
Relegated: Buccaneers and Navan.
Division 2B
Champions: Instonians.
Also promoted: Dungannon.
Relegated: Malahide.
Division 2C
Champions: Enniscorthy.
Relegated: Tullamore and Omagh Academicals.
Promoted from provincial leagues: Bective Rangers and Thomond.
